I smiled the entire time I played Mario Advance. A perfect port of Mario 2 would've sufficed, so every new area, huge enemy, and clever voice-over was a bonus to me. Mario Bros. has become a glorified minigame, and doesn't stand the test of time. Sure, this is a recycled classic instead of a new game, but I don't seem to care.

Although it doesn't bring anything truly new or innovative to the table, Super Mario Advance nevertheless manages to showcase the strengths of two classic titles with a deservedly long shelf life. It’s well worth owning.

The superior play value of Super Mario Advance is a sign of good things to come. With several more installments of the classic characters on the way, including Super Mario Bros. 3 and Wario Land, Nintendo and the Game Boy Advance are quickly reintroducing players to the great titles that helped make Nintendo what it is today.

For those of you too young to remember Mario 2 for the NES, here’s a quick primer: A bloated frog named King Wart has taken control of the world of dreams. You get to control Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess each with their own very distinct strengths and weaknesses as they run around seven worlds uprooting plants and hurling them at enemies. This GBA version features nice improvements to the original graphics and sounds like independently scrolling multi-layered backgrounds, as well as new animations, sound effects, and even speech though its simple 8-bit roots are still pretty obvious. And even in its diminutive form, the game feels exactly the same as it always has pros, cons, and all.

Overall, if you’re a Mario fan, a fan of platformers, or have never played Super Mario Bros. 2, then you should definitely pick up this title. Super Mario Advance might be nothing more than a beefed-up port of an old game, but hell, it’s a Nintendo classic. Even if you have played Super Mario Bros. 2 before, there might just be enough new features in Super Mario Advance to warrant a purchase.

Never one to miss a party, a game with Mario’s mug plastered on it has accompanied the launch of every Nintendo handheld and console. Taking a chapter out of his legendary crusade, Super Mario Advance is merely a compilation of two forgotten classics: Mario Bros. and Super Mario 2. Rather than porting both titles in their original forms, Nintendo has completely restored and slightly enhanced both games. Along with crisp, high-resolution graphics, new environmental effects, and a drastic boost in color, Super Mario 2’s audio delivers new voice-overs and a catchy soundtrack similar to that in Super Mario All-Stars. Furthermore, Red Coins are hidden within each level, and when the game is completed, a second quest featuring Yoshi’s Eggs becomes available.

Super Mario Advance, apart from its moniker, offers very little that’s advanced. Mainly a rehash of Super Mario Bros. 2 with the original Mario Bros. thrown in for good measure, Super Mario Advance succeeds only because you can take this one on the road with you. It’s not that Super Mario Advance isn’t fun, but I think I would have been a little more forgiving if Nintendo could have made a new Mario game, or at least added the even better Super Mario Bros. 3.

Super Mario Advance effectively highlights the power of the handheld with its brilliant, rich visuals and will provide hours of challenging fun, especially for those who haven't played the original games on which it is based.

Once you’ve beaten the SMB 2 there isn’t that much to do in the game anymore. The one exception is that in each level there are five hard to attain coins. While I’m unsure what this unlocks, (it’s extremely challenging) it is something you can go back and do. (Similar to the challenge mode in Super Mario Bros. DX) Mario Bros. Classic is basically what gives this game staying power. You can always play the one player mode to see if you can attain the highest score, and if that’s not your bag, battling with friends will prove satisfactory for quite some time.

Super Mario Advance is two games from the 80's thrown together, but these two games have found themselves a new home and a makeover done well enough to give older gamers another reason to have a crack at it, and younger gamers who haven't had the pleasure of playing these classics a reason to see what all the fuss was about. Super Mario Advance might not have been the brand new Mario adventure everyone wanted back in the Game Boy Advance launch (and it never got an original Mario adventure, either), but its a worthy addition to anyone's Game Boy Advance collection.

In conclusion, then, fans of Mario will enjoy this, albeit uninspired new edition for the GBA. It is not however, among the best available for the fledgling hand-held, nor is it as good as some of Mario’s previous outings. Fun, as ever, but by no means perfect.

All said and done, does Super Mario Advance deserve a spot in your GBA library? I would say yes, it's a remake of an ingenious game, comes with enough extras and features of its own, shows an inkling of the handheld's possibilities, and most importantly, it's a great platformer on the go. Two great games, one great handheld, and the playability anywhere: a worthy purchase if there ever was one.

I really wanted to enjoy Mario Advance, but Nintendo released the two least compelling Mario games in a single package with almost no improvements. Super Mario Advance feels more like "Marios Also-Rans" than Mario All-Stars. Again, its not that Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 are terrible games. Theyre above-average titles worth checking out, especially if youve never played them before. But theyre not great games that weve come to expect from the Mario franchise. My advice—hold on to your $30 until Nintendo releases the inevitable sequels to Super Mario Advance featuring games far worthier of another look.

So far as replay goes, there are red coins hidden in the levels to be found, like the coins to be found in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. Nintendo obviously didn't have exact port in mind when they made this game, and that is commendable, plus the searching will add some to the replay value. However, not everybody is interested in looking for coins, and even those that are won't have much reason to continue playing after finding them. Add to that the fact that Super Mario Bros. isn't particularly long, and you've got a fun game that doesn't last long.

It's strange to think that Super Mario All Stars is now eight years old, and even stranger still when you realise that SMB2 itself has now been around in various forms for 13 years. It's high time it caught the public's attention again, and the few changes here and there are nice, but even with the addition of a multiplayer Mario Brothers game and Yoshi's Challenge, the game is still pretty tired. If you've never played it then you have absolutely no excuse for not buying this, and if any of your friends have bought the GameBoy Advance, you should hunt down a copy of SMA simply to try out the multiplayer linkup option.